The proposal is to study the ability of a series of synthetic peptides to form ion-conducting channels in artificial bilayer membranes. The design of the peptides is based on a new hypothesis of the structure of proteins in cell membranes and in membrane models. Certain predictions based on this hypothesis will be tested by varying the polar character and the configuration of amino acid residues in the peptide as well as the overall chain length, and determining how these variables influence the channel-forming properties of the peptides.